Considerable effort has been directed toward the provision of ski brakes which are actuated upon release of the skier's boot from the binding. Such brakes typically include a moveable blade or blades that are driven down into the snow when the boot releases from the binding. The ski brake prevents the ski from travelling wildly down the hill endangering other skiers and making retrieval difficult. It is known to assist binding release using an electric motor, as shown in U.S. Pat. No 3,794,339, and various spring-biased and cam-actuated schemes for driving the braking blades into the snow after the boot is released have been devised. Typical of such ski brake apparatus are the devices shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,909,024, 4,279,433 and 4,342,468.
Binding-release ski brakes, however, are not designed to operate while the skier is skiing. Thus, they do not assist the skier controlling his or her descent, and they cannot be applied by the skier intentionally while staying in the ski bindings.
Nevertheless, one of the problems which is most common for beginner skiers and beginner snow boarders is an inability to control their speed on skis or snow boards. As a result of this inability, there is considerable "fear of the fall line" in which beginner skiers do not point their skis or snow board directly downhill or along the fall line. Conventionally, braking of snow skis and snow boards is accomplished by using turning techniques in which the edges of the skis, or snow board, are tilted into the snow to effect braking. In connection with both skis and snow boards, these turning techniques can be initially difficult and awkward to learn, and many novice skiers become discouraged and give up the sport because of their inability to develop effective braking techniques.
The problem of snow ski braking during skiing has been addressed using a hydraulic ski brake assembly. U. S. Pat. No. 4,152,007 discloses a hydraulic ski brake assembly in which a pivotally mounted blade or scoop can be driven down into the snow by hydraulic actuators which are pressurized by hand-held pumps. The hydraulic brake assembly of U.S. Pat. No. 4,152,007 allows the skier to selectively apply a braking force while skiing, but inherently it also has several disadvantages.
First, the use of a hydraulic system is undesirable in light of the ease with which the hydraulic lines can become severed or damaged as a result of falls taken while skiing. If hydraulic lines are severed, the further problem of the discharge of hydraulic fluid, a notorious contaminant, onto the snow is created. Moreover, and very importantly, the hydraulic system of U.S. Pat. No. 4,152,007 requires that the hand-grip pump assemblies be held while the braking force is applied. Thus, the skier must continue to grip the hand-held pumps in order to prevent the brake from releasing or pivoting rearwardly out of the snow. This is highly undesirable because, for the beginning skier, it is desirable to have some braking force applied all of the time during skiing, and the beginning skier will want to use his arms and hands for balance. This makes the gripping and maintenance of a positive force on the hydraulic pump or cylinder assembly, while skiing, rather awkward. Moreover, the hydraulic actuator assembly of U.S. Pat. No. 4,152,007 is not constructed in a manner which easily allows control of the depth to which the brake are driven into the snow. Thus, it is difficult for a novice skier to control the amount of braking force being applied, particularly under dynamic skiing conditions.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a ski brake assembly of the type which can be used during skiing to control descent of the skier on a pair of skis or a snow board.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a ski brake assembly which will enable rapid and yet fine adjustments of the braking force to be easily made and held under dynamic skiing conditions.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a brake assembly for skis or a snow board which can be easily mounted to the body of the ski or snow board and is constructed in a manner which is easy to operate and frees the skier's hands for dynamic balancing.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a brake assembly for skis or a snow board which is compact, easy to operate, durable and inexpensive to construct.
The ski and snow board brake assembly of the present invention has other objects and features of advantage which will become apparent from, and are set forth in more detail, in the accompanying drawing and the following Description of the Best Mode of Carrying Out the Invention.